The controversial reform of the Labor Code to the test of the Assembly

Parliamentary battle in view: the Assembly is attacking on Monday the reform of the Labor Code by ordinances, with the assurance of the support of a large majority, despite criticisms of several ways on the method and a rejection of substantively Of the “insoumis” and communists.

“Unleashing the energy of companies while protecting assets”: this is the goal displayed by the government of Edouard Philippe. The text authorizing it to legislate by ordinance must be adopted definitively at this extraordinary summer session, while consultation with the social partners will continue throughout the summer.

Several campaign promises by Emmanuel Macron are included, including the much-criticized industrial tribunal damages for unfair dismissal, the merger of employee representative bodies or the increased role of the business agreement on the branch.

Very concretely, the bill, which is nine in number, provides the framework for future orders, but it does not specify all the details. For alongside its legislative journey, discussions will continue with trade unions and employers, who “will have the primeur”, at the end of August, of the ordinances themselves, assured the Minister of Labor. Muriel Pénicaud is weakened by the opening Friday of a judicial investigation for “favoritism” in the file Business France.

The ordinances are to be adopted by the Council of Ministers by 20 September and their ratification will then be submitted to Parliament, which will give them the force of law.

Some measures will be applied “immediately”, according to the minister, which cited the barging of allowances, a provision abandoned by the Valls government in March 2016 under the Labor Act, which did not prevent the worst social crisis Under a left-wing government.

If the new reform is expected to be “urgent” by employers (Medef, CPME and U2Pa) in order to “restore confidence” to companies to invest and hire, the trade union organizations (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC) Have put forward its “dangers” for the employees.

– A menu ‘without the dishes’ –

To adopt the text, while the reform worries 61% of the French, according to a poll published at the end of June, the new government can count to the Assembly by its very large majority Republic in march and MoDem.

In committee, where the draft was voted without any substantive change, REM elected representatives were very unconcerned, their leader for this text Aurélien Taché, saying “trust in social democracy” and ensuring that empowerment for Orders was “not a white hand.”

But the debates are going ahead in the Assembly, with some 400 amendments tabled. “The battle has only just begun,” have warned on Thursday the communist elected clearly hostile as the “Insubmiss” to what Jean-Luc Mélenchon called a “social coup”.

In a foretaste, LFI deputies symbolically brandished a labor code in the hemicycle Tuesday after the general policy statement of Edouard Philippe to show that they would defend this “big red book” “meter after meter”. And Mélenchon called for “rallies” on Wednesday, while the examination will continue in the hemicycle.

The group “New left” (ex-PS) intends to vote against, not to “give a blank check”. The text contains, according to its members, “red lines” on the job contract “more precarious than a fixed-term contract” or labor compensation.

The Republicans have voted for the commission, saying it is “in the right direction” but promising to be “very vigilant about the content of the ordinances.”

All agree to denounce the method of ordinances, a way of “divesting Parliament” in the eyes of elected PCF, which “does not allow a fair reform” for “New Left” and which carries the risk that the debate takes place “in The street “for LR. But a method that was once again “legitimized”, after the elections, by the broad vote of confidence obtained by the government, in the eyes of the rapporteur Laurent Pietraszewski, MEP of the North.

The text also provides for a one-year deferral of the withholding of income tax at 1 January 2019.